THE search for a mammal that was written off as extinct in England a few years ago has been intensified with the aid of some high-tech equipment.

Special cameras triggered by infra-red beams are being installed in a remote North York Moors wood in a bid to capture an image of a pine marten - the second rarest carnivore in Britain after the wild cat.

The hidden cameras are the latest move in a project to track down the creature that was launched four years ago after a series of reliable sightings.

Sticky tubes baited with jam sandwiches were deployed in a bid to collect hair samples from the phantom sweet-toothed animal.

And more recently specially-designed boxes have been erected to offer the tree-climbers a ready-made home to raise their young.

Forestry Commission wildlife officer Brian Walker, said: "We always knew the search for irrefutable proof of the creature's presence in England would be a long one.

"The cameras will give us another string to our bow. They are being trained on feeding stations near the boxes and if anything breaks the invisible beam any time of the day or night the shutter will be activated."

He added: "My gut feeling is that we do have pine martens, but they are few in number, nocturnal, and often in the trees, making them extremely tough to spot."

A number of droppings - known as scat - found on the boxes have undergone DNA analysis to determine their origin as martens are known to mark their territories in this way.

One batch proved to be from a stoat, but another is being subjected to further laboratory tests.

Pine martens look similar to a ferret or stoat, but are significantly larger, and sport a bushy tail.

Once widespread in the UK, persecution and habitat loss saw the population dwindle during the early 20th-century.

Today the animal is mainly restricted to the Scottish Highlands but there are persistent reports of sightings in North Yorkshire and Northumbria and even County Durham.